In his weekly call-in show the night after a disappointing 95-73 loss at home against Appalachian State, Murry Bartow was practically begging the fans to blame him, not Tim Smith, for the team’s 6-16 start.
This sighting ranks right up there with unicorns, sasquach or Kobe Bryant hugging Shaquille O’Neal: The head coach of a team coming off of two consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament was actually pleading with the fans to blame him for the debacle.
If you think that’s wild, it actually gets stranger; nobody seems to be taking Bartow up on the offer. The fans have had no problem getting on Smith, a first team SoCon performer, but Bartow has been shown patience.
Part of that patience is due to the injury to Brad Nuckles. With the graduation of Zakee Wadood and Gerald Fields, Bartow was banking on having Nuckles inside to anchor a group of newcomers.
The Bucs’ rode out their brutal non-conference schedule like a sweat sock in a dryer, getting bounced around while the new post players tried to learn on the job. It took the team until Dec. 10 to win their first game against a D-1 team and Jan. 10 to win their first game on the road.
All the while Bartow has been like a chemist, mixing and matching different starting lineups, different substitution patterns and different defenses. Just when it seemed like he was getting closer to finding the answer to turning the team around, the answer would disappear in a puff of smoke.
Oddly enough during this season full of losing, it has always seemed that the Bucs are perched right on the edge of being a good basketball team. Tim Smith has had another banner year, leading the SoCon is scoring. Dillion Sneed emerged as a force inside, leading the conference in rebounding.
So that brings us back to the question of what kind of coaching job Bartow has done this year? Have the Bucs been so close to breaking through because of Bartow or have they lost so many close games because of him?
On one hand, the team has been short-handed that they have been unable to go five-on-five in practice. Any coach will tell you that offensive timing and the ability to play team defense will be hampered when you can’t run a full practice.
On the other hand, the Bucs seemed to be determined to play the same sort of power basketball early in the season that they played last year even though this year’s team without last years full cast.
In the end, the answer is unclear. With a short bench, an undersized team and only one recruiting class under his belt, it’s too early to pass judgement. If the Bucs run the table in the SoCon Tournament, Bartow will become a folk hero. If next year’s team, which looks to be strong on paper, doesn’t dominate the weak A-Sun conference, however, he won’t have to beg anyone to pile on the blame.

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